


These quiet moments between us are just a new beginning

by Ale_Song



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Darillium (Doctor Who), F/M, Fluff, Gen, it starts angsty up it gets fluffy i swear, mention of the ponds, some good old introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:54:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27963356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ale_Song/pseuds/Ale_Song
Summary: So many stories were told about them, not all of them happy. Did she really need that? More sadness? She already knew that their time was limited. Her diary was practically full, and no matter how small she wrote, almost all pages were full of ink. With just one night left, what would happen in a few short hours? The thought terrorized River, she never believed in destiny but why meet again after all this time and then so abruptly leave after such a short amount of time?It was then that the Doctor did what he always did, the unthinkable.Twenty four years.
Relationships: The Doctor/River Song, Twelfth Doctor/River Song
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	These quiet moments between us are just a new beginning

River wasn’t accustomed to that. Domesticity was never sher thing. Even thinking back to her previous regeneration, ironically Mels was probably the one who lived for the longest time in the same place, and she never thought about settling down. Leadworth was nothing to her, only a half deserted village with only one post office (as Amy jokefully said every time she complained about the lack of anything remotely interesting in the small town). Funny how such a place with little importance in the grand scheme of things was so significant for her; and paradoxically, everything lost importance for her when Amy and Rory were alongside her.

Oh, how she missed them. Despite the passing of months since the events of Manhattan, the pain never faded, always present like an itch that no matter how many times River tried to scratch, never quite subdued. Admittedly, at the beginning it was bad, and it quickly went even worse after the expected and dreaded row she had with the Doctor. That was when she understood a thing: better leave with all those good memories than stay in the TARDIS and be treated like a bland version of her parents. Because what’s the Doctor without his ponds?

Sometimes River felt like she was Amy and Rory’s daughter only by title. A thought that would make Mels feel ashamed for her future self, but this older, more scarred version of Melody Williams had passed countless nights thinking about the precise relation between her and her parents. For sure they loved her, River blindly believed that, but sometimes she wondered if they loved her as their long lost daughter or as their childhood best friend. It was a fine line in her opinion, the difference between the two, but the doubt was still subtly there.

Despite all the terror he caused and the countless loss of lives he caused, the greatest and most fatal flaw was that Lord Hydroflax was so easily gullible. _“Men will believe any story they are the hero of”_ was one of the first things River said to Ramone and Nardole when they first met to plan the Halassi Androvar heist. That’s when she met _him_. Really, she never expected to find him there, in that seemingly perfectly normal colony that was Mendorax Dellora. How ironic that she said the exact same thing to her husband, in his face in the middle of a fancy restaurant full of wicked people and brutal dictators.

Obviously River didn't know it was her husband. If she knew that surely she would have acted differently. Was she angry that he didn’t immediately tell her who he really was? Sure. But in fact he did try to warn her several times. It was her, her stubborn mind to not even take into consideration such possibility. In retrospect it was quite obvious that it was him, and the funny thing was that she actually was starting to like him even before the reveal.  
River never knew about that new face of his. In fact somehow he had a whole new regeneration cycle, which was quite interesting. This new version of the Doctor was totally different from his baby faced past self, but at the same time nothing changed in him.

What happened in the next hours was everything River dreaded and hoped. It was a new beginning, but also in a sense an end. So many stories were told about them, not all of them happy. Did she really need that? More sadness? She already knew that their time was limited. Her diary was practically full, and no matter how small she wrote, almost all pages were full of ink. With just one night left, what would happen in a few short hours? The thought terrorized River, she never believed in destiny but why meet again after all this time and then so abruptly leave after such a short amount of time?

It was then that the Doctor did what he always did, the unthinkable.

_Twenty four years._

Her husband gifted her twenty four years, on Darillium no less.

At first River was wary. After all that was the Doctor. He may have changed face but deep down he was always the same. Dullness and monotony scared him, ergo the easiest thing to do in the Doctor’s opinion was to just run away, to a new adventure. And what is more monotone than as his previous face would bluntly say an _humanly-human life_. Lazy mornings with late breakfast and chatting about insignificant things at the kitchen table and interminable afternoons spent doing basically nothing. The same routine over and over, would the Doctor ever endure that for her?

That was how River spent the first week in their new adventure. The Doctor, bless him, probably sensed what worried her because everytime she turned around he was there, timidly smiling as if he was waiting for her to say something. Now, nearly four months into their stays, the doubts that gripped her so strongly in the past years were finally giving her some respite.

Sure the first days weren’t that simple, both of them had to do a lot of catching up, stuff unsaid for decades were finally resurfacing and itched to be finally declared. There were sad tears for everything they had lost and never talked about, happy tears and muttered confession in each other's ears spoken softly as if they were the frailest things in the whole universe.

“You know, River. I’m pretty sure I've dreamed about this for a long time, lives ago even.” Began the Doctor one night, after spending the last hours of the day admiring the seemingly never ending sunset, with the golden sight of the singing towers lulling them with their characteristic melody. In the last weeks it was becoming a kind of habit for them, a moment to quietly spend together, just content by the presence of one another.

“Ah. Did you? Well, you’ve always been quite romantic. Remember that poem you wrote to me for our first anniversary?” Answered River, remembering how her baby faced husband compared his fondness for her to a jumbo pack of Jammie Dodgers.

"Ehi! I tried my best! And to be honest, you told me you liked it!"

"Well," Answered River, sipping a glass of her favourite wine, "Maybe you needed a little flattery. I mean, you worked so hard to write that. Sure, maybe in hindsight it may looks for you a little foolish now, but it was actually adorable"

“I just needed practice.” Admitted the Doctor, “ After a while even I have to admit I got quite good about the whole thing, if we exclude all the metaphors about love, sweets, biscuits and se-”

“Says the one who puts like seven teaspoons of sugar in his tea” Interrupted a chuckling River.

“You know what, maybe I should give poetry another go.”

“I’ll count on that for my next birthday” Giggled River. Quite an unusual thing for her to do, but recently she found herself doing it more and more often, as if she was some kind of schoolgirl in the presence of her crush.

“Ah, so foolish of me thinking you would like a song for your birthday. Well, duble gift for you then.” Joked the Doctor pointing at his trusted guitar.

“Really a song for a Song? How original”

“Original is my middle name”

“Ah, I thought it was utter chaos” Snorted River. Even if on the surface this version of her husband seemed more calm, the quirkiness and a sort of devil may care air was always there. It was just barely better hidden. “And thinking about it, you’ve already dedicated me some poetry, don’t you remember, darling?” Noted River, returning on the previous subject of conversation.

“What, this me?” Asked the her husband, pointing to himself.

“ _When wind stands fair and the night is perfect, when you least expect it, but always, when you need it the most,there is a song._ ” Recited River from her hearts. She wrote those sentences in the already almost full diary, and such were important for her that she wrote them not in her usual small handwrite, but in her best graphy, taking a full page just for those invaluable words. It was like a title, she thought when she finished, a new beginning for a new chapter of them together.  
“Yeah, that’s poetry for me if I can say so, sweetie”

“Well, see? As I said I just needed practice. And apparently I’m still good at it, even if it’s been a while since the last time I wrote something for you. I’m gonna remedy that.” Remarked the Doctor, getting closer to her just to steal her glass and sipping from it. River half expected to see a disgusted Doctor spitting her drink back into the glass, a frankly mildy revolting thing the Doctor’s past face used to do. Not this one, apparently now the Doctor could drink something more strong than sparkling grape juice.

“Don’t worry. You literally have decades to come up with some new ideas.”

“If you think about it, dear,” The Doctor started after a few seconds of quiet silence between them, “A song is not that different from a poem.”

“Oh, someone is sentimental today.”

“Can’t help it. It’s the effect you have on me. I’m sorry you’ll have to deal with it for at least the next twenty-four years.”

“Yeah...Twenty-four years” Repeated River, looking somewhere far in the horizon.

“Okay, you’re doing that again.” Interrupted her husband changing position once again and moving in front of her.

“Doing what?” Questioned River, biting her bottom lip.

“Frowning,” Simply answered back the Doctor, “As someone not too much ago said to me, it’s audible. I thought I was the only one having this skill.”

“I don’t frown.”

“Yeah, sure. And what exactly are you doing then?”

“Thinking.” Spoke softly River.

“I would say doing faces while overthinking. I can see it. Care to share?” Offered her husband refilling her glass.

“Twenty-four years is a lot of time. Isn’t it?” Explained River after taking a sip of her drink.

“River, if you’re going to say what I think you’re going to say let me tell you that is the stupidest thing you’ll ever tell me. In the whole past, present and future of the whole history of the Universe. I thought we got over it!” The Doctor’s hands were just slightly colder than hers, but firmly holding her now, one at her waist and the other one still clasped in her left hand. It was still a little strange to see how despite a new body, The Doctor’s hands fitted so well with hers. Some things never really change after all.

“I know. You made more than sure I knew, darling. But can you really think about it? Twenty-four years! Frankly I still can’t believe it” Admitted River, now smiling.

“You can’t believe to what? that I love you and I want to spend the next two decades and hopefully way more than that with you?” Said her husband resolutely.

“A bit of everything, really.”

“Then you are a fool, professor River Song. An utter fool, that’s the only explanation.” Told her a rather exasperated Doctor, lovingly bopping River’s nose with his finger.

“Maybe I am. Just a little.” Agreed River, returning the affectionate gesture.

“Well, Professor Song, we’re gonna fix that! After all, we have time now.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okayyyy i'm back. Ish. Not really.  
> Work is hell and I managed to post this because today i had a day off lol.  
> Anyway, just a snippet from the beginning of 12 and River's stay in Darillium. Also, I put a couple of callbacks to the new 10 and River audios, but it's not necessary to know them i just thought they were cute.  
> Also i know of my other wip, the 8/river one. I knowww and i'm sorry, but i literally have no time and very few ideas (ironically i know what to do in the end, but atm is missing all the middle part lol).  
> See you next time!


End file.
